WALES REGIONAL CONFERENCE GALA DINNER
Joel Holley, an Electrical Engineering apprentice at NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership Specialist Estate Services, received the Apprentice of the Year Award.
for the coalmines of the South Wales valleys, with most of the coal shipped to Cardiff for distribution. The building played an important role in the industrial Cardiff of the 19th century.” During the peak trading hour of midday to 1.00 pm, Graham Stanton explained, the trading floor might see up to 200 men ‘gesticulating and shouting’, while it was estimated that up to 10,000 people would pass in and out of the building daily.
Landmarks in hotel’s past Subsequent landmarks for the building included a ‘lavish refurbishment’ of the interior by Edwin Seward in 1912, and its subsequent re-opening as the ‘New Exchange Building’, an extension to the southern section in 1915, and the closing of the Coal Exchange in 1958, and the ceasing of coal exports in 1964. In 1979 the Coal Exchange was earmarked as a future home of the Welsh Assembly, but was never used for this purpose due to the Welsh people rejecting plans for devolution. The building was later used regularly for filming by the BBC, and in 2016 it was announced that it would be fully refurbished by a private company. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the original company went into administration, and in the summer of 2021 the Coal Exchange Hotel, at risk of closure at the time, was ‘saved’ by Cardiff-based Eden Grove Properties, which reopened it, in the process saving 56 jobs.
The Capital Project of the Year Award went to Liz Lloyd (pictured) and the team at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
Following this interesting and
informative historical presentation from Graham Stanton, guests at the drinks reception were entertained by the Cardiff Arms Park Male Choir – which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016, with some stirring renditions of Welsh favourite songs. Guests then made their way to the hotel’s imposing Grand Hall Suite. There they were able to enjoy a four-course dinner, wine, and other drinks, immediately following which they were entertained by the evening’s special guest, Wynne Evans, a seasoned opera singer who, having studied at the Royal Academy of Music, has sung with companies including Welsh National Opera, English National Opera, and Scottish Opera, making his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2009. In 2011, he was cast as the opera singer, Ubaldo Piangi, in the 25th anniversary celebratory production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall. Now a regular radio presenter on BBC Radio Wales, he will, however, be best known to many for having starred in a long-running TV advertising campaign for UK insurance comparison website,
Go.Compare, playing the flamboyant operatic tenor, Gio Compario.
‘Tosca’ gets a surprise A natural showman with a ready wit, he entertained dinner guests with some of the more humorous and memorable
moments from his very varied career – for instance recounting how, during a performance of Puccini’s Tosca, starring as painter, Mario Cavaradossi, he found himself in the embarrassing position where – while singing – he felt what he thought was a ‘large bead of sweat’ running down his forehead. Managing to effectively ‘flick’ this off as part of a flamboyant acting gesture, he was alarmed to discover soon after that it was in fact a large fly, which then landed in the open mouth of the soprano playing Floria Tosca, as she was about to commence an aria. Worried she might be choking, a St John Ambulance first responder promptly leapt onto the stage, helped the soprano recover, and – miraculously – the performance was able to continue. As he leaned over her subsequently, Wynne Evans explained that the soprano reportedly whispered to him: ‘Do you think anybody noticed?’ The singer and presenter – who was
awarded the British Empire Medal in June 2022 – followed this tale with a series of other amusing anecdotes, before closing with a passionate rendition of ‘The Impossible Dream’, to the audience’s delight.
Apprentice of the Year The final part of the evening saw the presentation of six IHEEM awards. Joel Holley, an Electrical Engineering apprentice at NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership Specialist Estate Services, was presented
The Champion of Champions Award was presented to Chris Scully, Senior Operational Estates Manager at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr Tydfil.
Graham Jones, the current Welsh Branch chair – a stalwart and strong supporter of the Institute and its activities for many years, received the IHEEM Lifetime Achievement Award.
June 2023 Health Estate Journal 19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
